There most definitely is a logical argument. In a word: patents.
Patents affect every piece of software. So no, that one word is not a logical argument. Try again.
Unlike GNU C, Linux, etc, which either implement published standards or have been OSS from the very beginning
As was Mono. It has always been OSS.
Mono implements and relies on stuff patented by Microsoft.
Just like GNU tools implemented alternatives to software heavily patented by the monopolists at the time (namely companies like AT&T). Every piece of GNU software likely infringes on many patents, from Microsoft and others. You and Richard are living in a fairy land if you believe otherwise. There are millions (billions?) of software patents out there that cover nearly every corner of software algorithms, tricks, and features. It is naive to think that every piece of software on your desktop doesn't infringe on someone's patent somewhere, or at least infringed at some point during their development and use (e.g. if the patent just recently expired).
Patents that Microsoft has shown signs it wants to sell to patent trolls (with an understanding that they'd use those patents to sue). In other words, there's good reason to think MS wants to use Mono as a Trojan Horse to enable lawsuits against OSS organizations such as the FSF, Debian, and Ubuntu.
This is a conspiracy theory if I ever saw one. No proof, just FUD. This does not make a logical argument. This is fear mongering, exactly what Miguel was talking about in his blog.
MS already tried one legal tack to go after OSS, namely the SCO lawsuit.
Again, no proof. Just theory. Remember that "our friend", Sun Microsystems, also bought licenses from SCO at the beginning of the SCO fiasco.
There's no reason to think they wouldn't try another.
There's no reason to think they ever tried. It's what you want to believe in order to justify your foaming-at-the-mouth hatred of Microsoft.
Even if it were proven to be true, past behavior is not proof of future behavior - especially in the business world where the people change, the markets change, etc. All of which have an effect on what a corporation does.
For those who have not bothered with a reality check, Microsoft has been changing their ways with regards to Open Source. They have been releasing huge amounts of code under Free Software licenses which grant patent rights to the recipients (sort of like the GPLv3). People like you don't want to recognize these changes because your fantasy world where Microsoft is black and you are white would come crumbling down around you. You'd be forced to reevaluate your entire existence which you have staked to the idea that Microsoft is Satan.
